there is nothing wrong for someone to say "hey check out this new product" but personally, I dont like it when someone pretends to be a customer who wants to buy one to promote thier own stuff to others...
It is not uncommon for something to take a month to get to the states from China. Usually, if I'm told 4 weeks, I do see it in 2. I got something from China in a week, a cable of all things. Shocked the **** out of me.Did anyone receive theirs yet? Mine says it left China July 14 but won't arrive until mid-August to September... I guess they are putting them on the slow boat.
NOTE: Even though the ITC-308 is not in compliance with the NEC, the controller does work as advertised. I am not enough of an expert to advise on how much risk may be involved with this particular non-compliance. Therefore, I will not make any recommendation on whether or not you should purchase a current release controller. You will have to make that decision yourself.
Thanks for the review! So I wonder how there going to make current customers "whole"? Am I getting another unit?
That is my question too. I would hate to have a product that is unsafe. Are they going to contact us or is the ball in our court?
doug293cz said:I have checked the wiring of the ITC-308 controller and it is not in compliance with the US National Electrical Code (NEC.) NEC Article 404 (as well as other articles) requires that switches be wired to interrupt the hot line to a load, rather than the neutral wire, in order to switch the load on and off. The ITC-308 is wired to switch the neutral connection to its output sockets, which violates the NEC.
Did anyone receive theirs yet? Mine says it left China July 14 but won't arrive until mid-August to September... I guess they are putting them on the slow boat.
Well I just checked mine with my socket tester and it shows "wired correctly" (2 yellow lights on). So apparently some of them are wired correctly. I received mine on Saturday and have had it plugged in the entire time with no load but with the probe in my ferm. chamber.
Also tested the accuracy of the probe and it reads .3 degrees F. high.
I didn't have my phone with me so I will post pics later.
Lots of great info with pictures and such.
I informed Ink-Bird of the compliance issue yesterday, and they requested that I delay going public with the information. I agreed to hold off for one day, and did so. They asked for additional delay, but I did not agree to that. I feel my responsibilities are to the HBT community, rather than Ink-Bird
Does anybody know where Inkbird is based? I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that there was a miscommunication with an overseas manufacturer if they are based somewhere outside of China, and therefore could understand why they would need time to fix the issue. If it's being made in-house at a factory they own in China (doubtful) - then this issue is pretty irresponsible.
I'm still glad that you posted this, even if I can understand why they didn't want you to post those pictures until they have it all sorted out. Thanks!
If you put the socket tester in the heating socket when the controller is calling for heat, it will show as wired correctly, because the hot and neutral are wired to the correct socket slots. If you then put the tester in the cooling socket, it should show an open neutral. The neutral is open, because the controller relay is on the neutral wire. NEC requires switching the hot wire, not the neutral wire.
Brew on
Any good way we can fix the wiring ourselves while we wait for Inkbird?
Requires un-soldering, and re-soldering two wires in the control head, and then rearranging the contact strips in the duplex socket.
I received an Ink-Bird ITC-308 controller that was sent to me at no-charge by Ink-Bird as a result of some communications I had with them about bad recommendations they gave for wiring their ITC-1000 controller. As a result of our communications, Ink-Bird corrected the instructions for wiring the ITC-1000. I brought this up in this post to this thread., and surfaced my concerns that the ITC-308 may also be wired in violation of the NEC.
I have checked the wiring of the ITC-308 controller and it is not in compliance with the US National Electrical Code (NEC.) NEC Article 404 (as well as other articles) requires that switches be wired to interrupt the hot line to a load, rather than the neutral wire, in order to switch the load on and off. The ITC-308 is wired to switch the neutral connection to its output sockets, which violates the NEC.
The following pic shows the socket tester I used in some of my tests of the ITC-308
View attachment 291826
The next pic shows the socket tester in the COOLING socket of the ITC-308 while the probe temp is less than the setpoint temp and the ITC-308 has switched on the HEATING socket. The tester indicates that the neutral line is open (as a result of the ITC-308 switching the neutral wire), and that the COOLING socket is powered (otherwise no LED would light on the tester.)
View attachment 291825
The final pic shows that the COOLING socket is in fact energized to 120V when it should be off.
View attachment 291824
I also opened up the cases of the unit, and traced the internal power to relay to socket connections. All results are consistent with the ITC-308 switching the neutral side of the loads rather than the hot side of the loads.
The above information has been communicated to Ink-Bird. Ink-Bird responded that they would change the wiring as of today to comply with the NEC, and will make existing customers whole. Ink-Bird has responded quickly to the product issues I raised with them. However, it is troubling to me that a company that sells electrical products to consumers can make this kind of error in design.
I informed Ink-Bird of the compliance issue yesterday, and they requested that I delay going public with the information. I agreed to hold off for one day, and did so. They asked for additional delay, but I did not agree to that. I feel my responsibilities are to the HBT community, rather than Ink-Bird.
NOTE: Even though the ITC-308 is not in compliance with the NEC, the controller does work as advertised. I am not enough of an expert to advise on how much risk may be involved with this particular non-compliance. Therefore, I will not make any recommendation on whether or not you should purchase a current release controller. You will have to make that decision yourself.
Brew on
We are here to make a formal apology for the mistake to our customers.
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